


Tattooed Heart

by drivingmishcrazy



Series: Tamily For The Holidays [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas fic, F/F, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Ice Skating, Winter fic, Women Loving Women, holiday fic, holiday fluff, literally falling in love, winter fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27730912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drivingmishcrazy/pseuds/drivingmishcrazy
Summary: Emily and Tara go on a date and Emily’s reasoning has Tara contemplating their future.
Relationships: Tara Lewis/Emily Prentiss
Series: Tamily For The Holidays [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006872
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Tattooed Heart

In retrospect, suggesting an ice skating date when she couldn’t stay upright on the ice was probably _not_ the most solid plan Emily Prentiss could’ve gone with.

Her heart had been in the right place, but her execution had been way, _way_ off. She had been so caught up in trying to come up with an idea for a date that would make Tara Lewis, her _very_ new girlfriend, so beside herself with happiness she could melt, that Emily had let her imagination run away from her just a little. However reality along with gravity quickly brought Emily back down to earth both literally and figuratively just moments after the two women donned their skates and stepped out onto the ice. Christmas had passed and New Years was rapidly approaching so the pre-holiday crowd that had previously occupied the outdoor skating rink had thinned out considerably, which was just as well because it meant there weren’t as many people around to witness Emily humiliating herself as she slid and swerved, fighting desperately to keep her balance. Her cheeks heated despite the cold when she saw Tara try and fail to hold back her laughter at the sight of Emily struggling to stay upright.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Tara said. “You just look like a baby giraffe trying to walk for the first time!”

“I _feel_ like a baby giraffe.” Emily grumbled.

“Well this was _your_ idea.” Tara noted. “Have you ever actually _gone_ ice skating before?”

“Once or twice.” Emily said. “In middle school.”

Tara shook her head, unable to hide her grin.

“Hold my hands.” She said. “I’ll keep you from falling.”

“Or I’ll take you down with me.” Emily said but grabbed on to Tara. “Then we’ll _both_ be on the ground.”

“No, I’ll be on _top_ of you.” Tara lowered her voice, her grin turned mischievous. “Which doesn’t bother me one little bit.”

Now it was Emily’s turn to laugh. “You’re horrible!”

“Mmm, I think you like it.” Tara teased, pecking her chastely on the lips.

“I never said I didn’t.” Emily replied. “I _do_ like it. I like _you._ Even though you just called me a giraffe.”

“You’re a cute giraffe.” Tara said. “And giraffes are my favorite animal, thank you very much.”

“Well that’s good to know.” Emily said. “I always liked the koala bears, even if they’re not actually bears.”

“That’s adorable.” Tara said. Emily stumbled and nearly fell, but Tara steadied her and pulled her close. “Whoa, whoa, hold on. You’re okay. Just focus on me.”

Emily was nervous, but obeyed and was relieved to find that with Tara’s guidance, she stayed vertical. Their progress around the rink was halting and clumsy, but Tara was true to her word and didn’t let Emily fall. Little by little, Emily’s confidence grew with Tara acting as her safety net, she got bolder and it ultimately proved to be her downfall.

“Let go.” Emily said.

Tara raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Emily said. “I can do this.”

Tara shrugged but said nothing more and released Emily’s hands. For a few moments, Emily was triumphant, glorious in her independence, she skated like she was born to do it. She felt like Michelle Kwan, triumphant in her success as she glided along as if she were flying. The feeling was short lived. She got two, maybe three feet before she began wobbling, and from there it was a matter of seconds before her butt made contact with the ice. By some small miracle, her head did _not_ meet the ground, but that didn’t come as much comfort to her hips or ass, which screamed in protest at being forced to occupy such a cold, hard surface. In seconds, Tara was there, lifting her up from under her armpits and shifting so she was supporting Emily’s weight by leaning Emily against her body.

“Are you okay?” Tara asked. “You went down pretty hard.”

“I’m fine.” Emily grunted. “I’m too damn old to be doing this shit, but I’m fine.”

“Maybe we should call time on the ice skating.” Tara said. “I think I saw a food truck that was selling hot chocolate, let’s go get some, my treat.”

“If you insist.” Emily said. “At this point, I’d be happy with an aspirin and whatever booze was on hand.”

Tara laughed and helped Emily hobble toward a bench to replace her skates with the boots she came with and the two set off in search of hot chocolate and were rewarded in less than fifteen minutes with hot beverages that aided in warming them up and helping them forget the less than stellar beginning to their date. Still, Tara was nothing if not a tease and she couldn’t help ribbing her girlfriend, no matter how gently, about her rather ill conceived idea for a date,

“I don’t get it.” Tara said, laughing as they sipped hot chocolate and strolled through the park. “If you knew you didn’t know how to skate, why suggest it?”

“It’s dumb.” Emily said. “If I tell you, you’re gonna laugh at me.”

“I’m not gonna laugh.” Tara said. “Come on! I wanna know! I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t!”

“Okay!” Emily said. “The truth?”

“Uh yeah.” Tara said. “I don’t want you to lie to me.”

“Okay.” Emily said. “Don’t laugh.”

“I would never.” Tara replied.

“Remember that story you told me?” Emily said. “About how your mom would take you and Gabriel out ice skating every year around Christmas until she died?”

Tara nodded, stunned into silence.

“Even when she was sick.” Emily said. “And the year she died, she _still_ told you guys to go, even though she was too weak to skate with you. You said she wanted to see her babies still enjoying that tradition-“

“One more time.” Tara finished. “I remember.”

“You said it was the happiest memory you had of your mom.” Emily shrugged. “I wanted to make you feel that happy again. I figured this was my best shot.”

Tara was silent for a moment. Her eyes swam with tears and she just _looked_ at Emily with such emotion and bewilderment that Emily quickly became afraid that she had made a mistake, that she had crossed a line by bringing up that memory and that Tara was angry at her for it. Emily opened her mouth to apologize, to beg for forgiveness when Tara pulled her by the waist and kissed her. Hard. Emily felt herself jump a little, tried to decide where to put her hands and settled for wrapping them around Tara and holding her as tightly as she could manage. When they broke apart, tears were flowing freely down Tara’s face and Emily reached up to wipe them away, equal parts confusion and worry.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” She asked softly. “What did I do? I didn’t wanna make you cry.”

“No, I’m okay.” Tara said laughing through her tears. Her forehead bumped Emily’s. “I just can’t believe you remembered me telling you that, it was months ago!”

“It was important to you.” Emily said. She stroked Tara’s hair. “So it was important to me.”

Tara gave a small shake of the head. “No one’s ever done something like that for me before.”

“I just wanted to do something special.” Emily said and smiled. “So you’re not mad?”

“No, I’m not mad.” Tara laughed and kissed Emily, a hand cupping the side of her face. “You are _so_ thoughtful that you were okay with literally busting your ass to do this for me. Just to make me happy.”

“I _like_ making you happy.” Emily looked up at Tara with the most sincere expression in her eyes. “It makes _me_ happy when you’re happy.”

“I’m happy.” Tara kissed her again. “Very happy. And _you_ are both very romantic and _so_ getting laid tonight.”

Emily laughed. “I didn’t know that having someone care about you was such a turn on.”

“Why don’t we get you home and find out?” Tara said, her voice low and seductive. “I need to check you for bumps and bruises anyway.”

“Your degree is in psychology.” Emily murmured against her. “Not medicine.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t play doctor.” Tara said. “And I _think_ you’re overdue for a physical.”

“Oh yeah?” Emily kissed her. “Well then I guess I better make an appointment.”

The two women walked hand in hand back to the car and drove to Emily’s apartment where Tara made herself _extremely_ busy with examining every inch of Emily’s body with her eyes, hands, and mouth until the brunette trembled beneath her touch. After they were finished, Tara and Emily curled up together under a thick blanket on the couch, watching a cheesy old sci-fi movie that they both loved and could quote from memory. Halfway through, Tara caught her girlfriend’s eye and Emily smiled warmly, grabbed Tara’s hand and kissed it, rubbing her knuckles affectionately. Tara’s stomach gave a flip as she realized that the last few weeks had been some of the happiest of her life and even though she felt it was far too soon to say one way or the other, Tara found herself beginning to think that she could be that happy with Emily forever. It was exciting and frightening and beautiful to realize that she was quite possibly falling in love already and though every rational part of Tara’s brain chided her and told her that she was letting her heart get too far out in front of her head, Tara felt no fear. Whether this thing with Emily crashed and burned or developed into something deeper and long lasting, she was happy.

She hoped that happiness would stay for a long time.


End file.
